Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of call center computing environments and more particularly to wait queue management of call center computing environments.
Description of the Related Art
Providing quality telephone-based customer service plays an increasingly important role in today's competitive business environment. For organizations having a remote call center involved in activities requiring direct communication with an agent, improving wait times for customers on hold greatly contributes to customer satisfaction. A call center can be seen from an operational point of view as a queueing network. The call center is typically served by an automatic call distributor (ACD). In an ACD system, calls incoming to a call center are dealt with by a plurality of agents. The ACD system identifies the call type of each incoming call and either connects the caller to an available agent or puts the caller into a call queue.
Call queueing plays an important role in call center operations. Calls can be placed in different queues based on pre-established criteria, and are usually placed in each queue on a first-come-first-serve basis. The more callers waiting in the queue, the longer the wait time. Unfortunately, in such situations, callers often get frustrated and end up abandoning their calls or exchanging hostile words with an agent who eventually processes the call, resulting in loss of goodwill, and customer dissatisfaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,574 describes an automatic customer call back for ACD systems. This invention provides a method for adding the calling number in a queue so that the customer can be called back when the next agent becomes available. Being able to call back the caller certainly eliminates waiting on hold, however the automatic call back may occur at an inconvenient time for the customer since there is no option allowing the customer to choose a time slot that the agent should call back.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,388 describes a system that allows callers to exercise control over their rank order within a phone queue. An interactive voice response unit (IVRU) is employed to offer a caller a chance to move up in the queue in return for a payment. If the caller wishes to accept the offer, the caller responds by using the touch tone keys of his/her telephone and entering a credit card number, or indicating some other method of payment. The ACD then changes the rank order of the caller's call within the phone queue and alters the rank position of other calls within the queue, accordingly. While this invention is useful for reducing wait times in exchange for payment, it does not solve the fact that the caller must remain on the phone, in the queue until an agent is available.
Additional methods for reservation options include the Apple Genius Bar website service in which a customer can select a time slot on Apple's website for a technical support appointment. Being able make an appointment with a technical support specialist saves time. In this instance, the experience of the customer can be improved, however it does not solve the fact that the customer must physically still take the product to the Apple store. This method would not work if a remote call center is located overseas.
There is currently a need for having a customer service reservation system that enables the customer to connect to a remote call center at a time convenient for the customer without having to remain on hold to access a call center agent.